Life happened

Well. It's been 3 months since my last blog post and I have no other excuse besides I've been busy living life. Not that I wasn't living life the past two years, but I at least had 30 minutes every now and then to sit down and write a blog post. It may sound crazy and you may be thinking "yeah right" when I say this- but I honestly have not had a free 30 minutes to sit and blog since my last post. Our lives amped up that weekend and have only just begun to slow down a little.

Here is a recap of what we've been up to since May 17th.
- My cousin's wedding in Louisville
- Elizabeth and Shane's wedding shower and bachelor/bachelorette parties
- Final celebrations and end of school events at MIT
- We hosted our entire families in Boston
- Chuck graduated (I don't think he and I slept more than 4 hours a night the entire week of his graduation)
- Chuck was in a wedding for our friends Clayton and Christen on the Cape
- We road tripped to Louisville with our UHAUL, Chuck's parents and my sisters
- My BFF Elizabeth and Shane got hitched and we were both in the wedding
- I flew to Minnesota for my best friend Lauren's bachelorette weekend (and made $1800 in Delta travel vouchers from taking later flights both on the way there and the way home. Cha-ching!)
- We drove to West Virginia for Chuck's classmate's wedding and stayed at a resort all weekend
- We spent 4th of July with family and at the Lake
- We drove to Minnesota for Lauren's wedding, which I was in
- We took a vacation to Playa del Carmen for our delayed honeymoon/yay Chuck graduated/we better take a vacation before we start working again
- We finally moved into our new apartment and got settled
- Chuck started work at Amazon
- I interviewed for jobs and recently accepted an offer

Add on top of all those things: cookouts with family, dinner dates with friends, church, church meetings, shopping for things for our apartment, setting up insurance, cable and electric, Gamenight friends events, and probably a bunch of other stuff, and that's been our summer.

I begin work on Monday and hopefully we will FINALLY have our new routine in place. As a person who thrives off itineraries and lists, I am pretty excited to get into a routine again. Not to take away from our summer of craziness though- it was the best summer ever.

Hopefully over time I can share some pictures with you of all of our summer fun. For now, I will leave you with a few pictures from our resort in Mexico, where I daydream about at least once a day.

1st Anniversary

Today we celebrate 11 and 1. Eleven years of Chuckie and Rachel, 1 year of Mr. and Mrs. Cummings.

It's hard to believe that our wedding was already a year ago. I feel like it was just yesterday! I've always heard that the first year of marriage is the hardest. Well if that's true, (which I'm sure a lot of people could argue) then I'll take it, because this has honestly been one of our best years yet, if not THE best one.  We have had more adventures, more fun, more travels, more laughter, and more togetherness than ever.  We've learned even more about each other which I didn't think was possible at this point.  We are (almost) always on the same page and we love drinking margaritas together. We have fun going out and being active but we also have fun staying home and doing nothing. I swear we have more fun brushing our teeth together sometimes than some people probably have in a whole day.

Chuckie is my best friend and I'm so lucky to have him to share all these exciting experiences with.

This, ladies and gentleman, is my husband:

I wouldn't want to brush my teeth next to anyone else.

Post Derby Louisville

Our recent trip to Louisville was different from our past two visits since Chuck started the LGO program.  The first time we visited home was the week of our wedding. The second time we visited home it was Christmas and New Year's. This time, though we had Derby and a wedding, the rest of the week was pretty open and unplanned. We were able to fit in some things we haven't been able to do and see some people we haven't been able to see on our last 2 trips. It was great!

The Monday after Derby, we spent the day cruising around Louisville, grabbing Panera Bread with my sister, buying up some National Championship stuff at the Neutral Zone, and hanging out at Shannon's house with the nieces. Then, after a quick stop at an MCC Youth Leaders meeting, we met up with my college roomie Holly and her husband Matt for dinner and ice cream.  Holly and I hadn't seen each other in about a  year and a half but have kept in touch with the occasional text or facebook message.  So we did some catching up and of course we did a little reminiscing about the good old days in the dorm when we did nothing but watch Oprah, Gilmore Girls, and drink Dr. Pepper.  It was so fun! We definitely won't let another year and a half go by without seeing each other again!

 

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were spent doing more of the same. Chuck and I went our separate ways a lot as he met up with friends for coffee and old work friends at GE, while I met up with old work friends and my sisters. We spent time at his parents' houses and my parents' house, his sister's hosue,  Havana Rumba, denist appointments and hair appointments, lunch dates, coffee dates, breakfast dates... Pretty much whatever we wanted. It was great to be in Louisville and just BE.

 

Thursday night we hung out at Chuckie's sister's house and after we left I told him that our evening was exactly what I miss about living in Louisville. That night we had grilled out steaks, played with the girls in the backyard on the swingset and then sat in his sister's kitchen for a few hours just talking about some serious and some not-so-serious things. Those are exactly the types of nights I miss having all the time, with both his family and mine. (As we all know, grilling out is also a favorite activity for my family, since my dad thinks he is Bobby Flay and everything.) The times when you're not really doing anything but grilling out and talking and laughing and having a good time just being together. Those are the best times with family.

 

Friday we met my cousin Ethan for lunch and then headed off to Cincinnati for our friend Jared's wedding. We checked into our hotel, got ready, and headed to the church just in time for the ceremony. The ceremony was beautiful and we were so happy we could be there. I love witnessing our close friends get married and know that they are so in love and have found happiness. Congratulations, Amber and Jared!

 Jared's groom's cake- a chili cheese dog. If you know Jared, you know this is the perfect cake for him.

 The happy couple!

 The other happy couple!

 

The reception was a blast and then it was back to the hotel for the after party, which the bride and groom joined us for! Once again, we were up until 3:30 am and completely messed up all the sleep we had been making up since the previous weekend. But it was worth it.

 

Saturday we were back in Louisville for our last full day in town. That afternoon we went to a local bar/restaurant where a fundraiser was being held for our friend, Rebekah, from high school who was injured in the Boston Marathon Bombing. (Rebekah was in marching band with us at Eastern and was a good friend of ours. We haven't seen her in about 2 years but have kept in touch like everyone does these days, via social media.) Bekah was at the marathon with her boyfriend and her son, watching her boyfriend's family in the race. She has some pretty bad injuries and is still, a month later, in the hospital.  Bekah has a long road to recovery and has already had 11 surgeries to save her left leg. This fundraiser was put on by some awesome ladies we went to high school with who, though they haven't spoken to Bekah or seen her in years, decided to take action and raise money for her and her family. We stopped by and bid on some auction items, bought some food and raffle tickets to do what we could for the cause.

 

 

That evening we met up with family and friends at El Toro to say goodbye and then spent the rest of the evening at our favorite Louisville bar, Thirsty Ernie's.

 

Sunday was Mother's Day, so after church we had a quick celebration at Shannon's house and then a quick celebration at my house before we headed to the airport. Here's Uncle Chuckie with a last minute picture with a few of his nieces. (They asked me to take this picture of them with him, by the way. Adorbs.)

 

 My sis bought some bookends for my mom. My mom then proceeded to put her modern day book (iPad) and Amazon Kindle gift card in the bookends and then we had a discussion about how hundreds of years from now people will find bookends and wonder what the heck they are.

Mother's Day picture!

And an early Father's Day picture!

 

It was another great trip home and we're looking forward to another trip in July! More details on that to come...

2012: The Best Year Ever

2012 was a huge year. My life in 2011 and my life in 2012? Completely different. In a good way. But seriously. Things could not be more different now than they were just a year ago.

January
- We got engaged. (Not technically January, but December 28, 2011 is pretty close.... So I'm going to count it.)
- We started planning our wedding and picked a date, location and I found a wedding dress.

February
- Chuck flew to Boston to interview for LGO.

Interview Day!

March
- We found out Chuck got into MIT which meant we found out we'd be moving in a matter of a few months.

Out celebrating LGO, two days after we found out.

April
- I went to LA with my best friend to visit our other best friend and we went SKYDIVING. The decision to do this went something like this (via texting):
Liz: "Hey we should go skydiving in LA!"
Me: "Ok!"
Liz: "Seriously?!!?!?!?"
Me: "YES!"
Group text:
Liz: "Hey Emily, we think we should go skydiving when we're in LA in a few weeks."
Emily: "HELL YES."

And so it was decided.

Right before we got on the plane to jump out. So jealous of Liz's purple suit.

I promise you, riding in that rickety old plane was way scarier than jumping out of it.

May
- Chuck left his job at GE and I left my job at the Kentucky Center.

The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts.

 - We packed up our entire lives, said goodbye to our family and friends, and moved to Boston.

We look thrilled. This is what 16 hours in a car will do to you.

 June
- Chuck started school at MIT.

- I started a new job at MIT.

July
- We spent the 4th of July in the birthplace of America! Probably my favorite thing we did all summer.

August
- Chuck finished his first semester of grad school.
- We moved into a new apartment in Cambridge.
- We got married and I became Rachel Cummings!

Gettin married.

Thank you to the cranky desk clerk who took this picture for us at almost 3 am when we arrived at the Seelbach.

 September
- We went to Maine! A state I was pretty sure I would never visit.

- Emily visited us in Boston.

October
- We camped in New Hampshire.

- Hurricane Sandy happened.

November
- My sisters visited us in Boston!

Sami, you're supposed to lay ON the air mattress, not UNDER it.

Laura, enjoying a tasty beverage at an Italian restaurant in the North End.

- My childhood best friend Lauren visited us in Boston!

- We found out Chuckie got an off-cycle internship with Amazon and started planning to move to Seattle.

December
- End of Chuck's 2nd semester of MIT.
- Traveled to Louisville to spend 2.5 weeks with friends and family for Christmas!

2013 is going to have a hard time living up to 2012.

Happy New Year, everyone! Here's to new beginnings, new friendships, new challenges and everything else new that comes with a new year!

1 Year Engagement Anniversary

One year ago today, Chuckie asked me to marry him.

I had the day off from work and had lunch with a co-worker. After lunch, I was reading Hunger Games on the couch, waiting for Chuckie to pick me up to go see a movie. Chuck left work early so we could make the last matinee showing of Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.  We went to dinner at The Melting Pot, because I had won a $100 gift card there at a work function earlier in the month. We went to Chuck's house to watch a UofL Basketball game, which almost didn't happen because I was convinced we needed to get to his sister's house earlier than 9 o'clock. Finally I gave in and we went to his house.


At Chuck's house, I saw a wrapped present labeled To Rachel From Chuckie under the tree and asked why he had a leftover present.  He told me it was part of my Christmas present- something he had ordered but came late in the mail, so he thought about saving it for my birthday but then decided to just go ahead and give it to me.  I opened it and it was a photobook, the kind you can make on Shutterfly or Walgreens and have printed. Chuck told me he wanted to give me something tangible on Christmas, since his other Christmas gift was tickets to a show happening in March.  I flipped through the entire book, clueless, and distracted by how sweet I thought it was that he put this book together. I lingered on each page, pointing out pictures that were my favorite and asking him where he found certain pictures. "The times in high school," "The time at the Derby," "The times in college," "The times on vacation..." etc etc and finally... a page with no picture but with the caption "The Time We Got Engaged. December 28, 2011."

After that I blacked out. Everyone always says they basically black out when they get engaged and can't remember what was said or what happened in the few minutes after. And it's true. I thought I would remember every detail of the moment, but really I just remember crying a lot and being so shocked and asking myself over and over again in my mind "Did this really just happen?" Especially because UofL was playing! Chuckie was missing the game to propose to me. This was huge! He really DOES like me more than UofL basketball! (All things I remember thinking that night.)

The first picture we took of ourselves after getting engaged.

We called some family and friends to tell them the news. Some people who didn't answer simply got this picture with the message "Call me." It was so exciting to tell people over and over again! After we called some family and friends, we finished watching the UofL game and then went to his sister's house and had champagne with his family and saw his nieces before they had to go to bed. Then we went to my parent's house and celebrated with my family. It was the best date night EVER. I'm still trying to figure out how Chuck was able to act so normal all the way through the movie and dinner, knowing what was going to happen later that night.

Adorable pictures his nieces drew for us that night that I will keep forever and ever.

And now here we are a year later- married, going through grad school in Boston, and loving life.

So much can happen in just one year!

Visitors Galore!

It seems we've had a lot of visitors lately. Emily in mid September, some of Chuck's extended family a couple weeks ago, and this past weekend, two of my Aunts came to visit us!

My mom is one of 6 girls, and lucky for us, a few of the sisters happen to live up here in the Northeast. My Aunt Carolyn, who lives in New Jersey, drove some of our wedding gifts home with her after the wedding with a promise to bring them to us at some point in the Fall. My Aunt Betty lives near Springfield, MA, only 1.5 hours away from here. So this weekend, Aunt Carolyn drove herself and our gifts up to Springfield for the weekend, and on Saturday they made the trip to Boston together.

Their visit was exciting for us for a number of reasons. 1) We got to see familiar faces and spend time with family- something we miss A LOT here in Boston. 2) We go to show off our new apartment and our little section of Cambridge. 3) THEY BROUGHT PRESENTS.

It was like Christmas! Chuck and I couldn't remember any of the things we had stacked in the "bring" pile, except for a crock pot. So going through all the gifts was like getting them for the first time again. A wine rack, 3 bottles of wine, a pie scooper, a paper towel holder, a nice knife set, an ice bucket, pillow shams... So many exciting things!

When the aunts got here, we brought up all our things and then they watched the UofL football game with us. Then we walked to a nearby restaurant, The Asgard, and had a late lunch. Even though we were all pretty full afterwards, Chuckie and I took them to our favorite place, Toscanini's (where I also took Emily) for some delicious ice cream.

It was a really nice visit and like I said, we enjoy seeing familiar faces, even if only for a few hours.

In about 2.5 weeks, my sisters are coming to visit for FOUR DAYS. I can't describe how excited we are. Neither of them have been to Boston so I'm making a full agenda so they can see and do all of the awesome things you have to see and do while here. Then, at the end of November, my best friend Lauren is coming for a long weekend. Three weeks after she leaves, we go home to Kentucky for Christmas for a little over two weeks!

So, friends and family who have not yet visited or made plans to visit, please start submitting your dates to come visit us starting after January 6. Thank you.

Advice for a Happy Marriage

A few years ago when I was doing some research for a project at work, I came across a website called moocards.com.  I spent probably an hour looking through their "inspiration gallery" to see what uses people had for these tiny things they sell called minicards. In the gallery, I came across some pictures of how people had used minicards for their weddings, and one idea in particular caught my eye. One couple had different pictures of themselves printed on one side of the minicard (you can have up to 100 different images on the cards, at no extra charge!) and on the other side a line that said "Share your advice with the bride and groom!" The mini advice cards wanted guests to complete the sentence "No matter what, always...." and then just for fun, asked guests to "Name our first child!" I thought these were so cute and thought about how much fun it must have been for the bride and groom to read those after the wedding.  Before Chuck and I got engaged, I did not know one single thing about what I wanted our future wedding to look like (besides purple bridesmaids dresses of course, but that was a given) but I knew I wanted us to have these minicards.

A couple months before the wedding, I placed the order for the cards. It only took me a few minutes to upload the different photos I wanted, write the text on the back, have Chuck do a quick probability problem on how many cards I should order based on how many cards we thought each guest would fill out:

Applying what he was learning in class to our real life situation. Thanks, MIT!

and then place the order. So easy! And they turned out SO cute. I used 12-15 different pictures on the front but the same text on the back of all of them.

Here is what they looked like.

 This picture makes them look bigger than they are. They are really only half the size of a business card.

Our plan was to wait to read the advice cards until we were on our honeymoon. But, we got bored on our flight back to Boston and I had them in my purse so, we read them on the plane. The responses were all great, and it was fun to try to figure out who wrote certain responses, because nowhere on the card does it ask for the guest's name. Although on some of them, it was kind of easy to tell who wrote it:

We got some very good advice, funny advice, sweet advice, and advice from couples who obviously have been through certain situations and wanted to keep us from making the same mistakes they have made. Like this:
Obviously picture hanging is not one couple's favorite thing to do together, as I'm pretty sure a husband and wife had to have written these. So funny.

Some of my favorite cards were these:

 All good advice. :)

I like this advice. I don't think Chuck and I would ever forget one anothers birthday, but I feel like a lot of people fail to make each other's birthdays special as you get older. Most people go all out for the big milestones, like 30, 40, etc. which is fun and makes sense, but why not go all out for the random ones too like 33 and 47? Or maybe not ALL out, but at least still make them special too. Every year of life should be celebrated, not just the milestone years.

I just like this one because someone suggested Rachel Jr. as our first child's name.

A lot of other cards told us to always kiss goodnight, never go to bed angry, support each other, and laugh together.  Most people want us to name our first child Charles Cummings IV, "Charlie" for short. Chuck was very happy about that.

I have to say though, of all the filled out cards we received, these 3 were my favorites.

Always love each other- it's not easy but it is always worth it.

Do your own laundry. (Can I get an Amen?)

And simply, just LOVE HARD.  I think that's not only important advice for marriage, but for every relationship you have with family and with friends. No matter what, always love hard.  I like it.

August 25th

Since Chuck and I were not going on an immediate honeymoon after the wedding, we decided to hang out in Louisville until the last possible second before we had to head back to Boston. Since we got married on a Friday, this left us with all day Saturday and most of Sunday to hang out, see our family and relax before we had to get on a plane again. Friday night after the wedding we stayed at the Seelbach Hotel, an historic hotel in Louisville where F. Scott Fitzgerald used to stay frequently and got inspiration for his book (my favorite) The Great Gatsby! Saturday morning we woke up and got ready to head to my parents' house for a brunch at noon.

Friends- if you are not leaving immediately the next day for a honeymoon, I highly recommend having a brunch the day after your wedding.  Our friends Justin and Jenny did this after their wedding last year and it was so fun we asked my parents to do it for us. My parents invited our entire family, Chuck's entire family and our bridal party. Since we have such a ginormous family who never turns down an opportunity to party, there were a million people there. It was like the wedding all over again! But it was great. There was tons of food, corn hole, lawn chairs out in the yard, people on the deck, babies in the grass, people standing around the kitchen- it was amazing. There were people in every corner of the house.  It was so great to see everyone again and talk about the night before, but also just nice to catch up with our out of town family who we don't see often and actually get to say more to them than "Hi! Thanks for coming!" which is what I felt like I said to everyone at the wedding before getting pulled away from them.

After brunch and after some people had left, we opened gifts, opened cards, relaxed, and later that night went to Chuck's sister's house to grill out burgers and relax some more.  That night we went back to stay at the Seelbach again and made our marriage "facebook official," had a ceremonious name-changing on Facebook, and created a new gmail address for me with my new name.

Like I said before, I strongly recommend a brunch to anyone the day after the wedding. It was great to get to see everyone again so soon after and great to spend time sitting down and actually talking to all the people we love.

Photo credits go to my Aunt Kathy and my sister Laura. Stole these from their facebooks and blogs. Thanks for unknowingly letting me steal these pics from you all! :)

I wish this could be every Saturday afternoon. Blankets, nieces on my friends' laps, sunshine... Sigh.

Liz is such a good sport. :)

Shane, the baby whisperer.